Please allow me to reintroduce myself

Before we talk about what’s going on in Vancouver (or Wancouver, as Esa Tikkanen said last week) I owe a big, big, big thank-you to Laurel, who did a magnificent job (not surprised by that, but still thrilled by it). I’m starting to think she likes hockey. And starting to think she likes this blog. Anyway, she could have done minimum work and it would have been better than shutting down, but she chose to go above and beyond. You rule, Mama!

And also kudos to our special guests, Captain Clutch and Uncle Glennie. As always, you guys were hilarious.
So on to last night, one of the better hockey games you’ll ever see in terms of action. Lots of mistakes, granted, but often the better games are that way because of mistakes.

1) Which brings us to this: That’s what Safe Is Death looks like when you have some skill on the roster.

2) The MSNBC broadcast, I thought, was terrific. For one thing, there was no Pierre McGuirre. I know Pierre for a long time and we have a good relationship and I like the guy personally. But his between the benches thing vandalizes games. Too much constant chatter. Plus it hurts my brain when he starts every sentence with “edzo”.

2) Jeremy Roenick has contribued less than zero. And that clown “Willie” on MSNBC’s postgame was just overmatched. Among his many inaccuracies, he called the Crosby goal “one of the few tough chances” that Ryan Miller faced. Huh?

3) He, and others, also called it the biggest Olympic upset since 1980. To compare that to 1980, first of all, is naive and dumb and disrespectful. But really, how many upsets have their been since 1980? And here’s a news flash. Since 1952, Canada has won one gold medal in men’s hockey, or one fewer than the U.S. And one fewer than Sweden.

4) Capt. Clutch looks pretty darn good. He has two typical Drury garbage goals. How many has he had like that during the NHL season?

5) Martin Brodeur helped him there by taking a moment to whack at one of the USA guys who had bumped him, then having to scramble for the puck Drury ultimately buried. I think they have to go back to Luongo in goal now. Right?

6) They keep saying that this is Chris Pronger’s fourth Olympics. Maybe he should have stopped at three. He stinks.

7) Love the circa 1960 jerseys.

8) The best thing in this whole Olympics so far was the half hour Al Michaels did with Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig and Mark “Magic” Johnson on the Miracle in ’80. Spent 30 minutes with goosebumps, and remembered just how much I miss my friend, the mad scientist of all hockey coaches, Herb Brooks.

9) My old bladder isn’t cut out for these limited-commercial-interruptions telecasts.

10) Did you see the Monster Ovechkin lay out the former captain of the New York Rangers. That was a whale of a game, too.

11) I’m not counting out Canada. Or any of the superpowers. But now I’m including the Red, White and Blue among those.

Rick Carpiniello, 26, was born and raised in Harrison and began working in The Journal News' sports department (back when it was The Reporter Dispatch and eight other newspapers) in October of 1977 after a year of covering high school sports as a stringer. In 1978 he began covering the New York Rangers and the National Hockey League. Carpiniello has been writing columns on everything from local sports to the big leagues since 2002.